FTSE 100 index opens down on G4S, Rolls-Royce and Glencore
The FTSE 100 opened marginally lower this morning, led by falls in G4S and Rolls-Royce, while miners regained some ground.
The UK's top blue-chip index was down 0.32 per cent at 6,158 points, led by security company G4S, which opened 3.18 per cent down at 228.9p per share after it was downgraded by a broker.
"G4S shares have underperformed the market, down 10 per cent this year. With no big contracts to offset likely higher costs from a rise in the national minimum wage, the downtrend in G4S looks set to continue," said Jasper Lawler, an analyst at CMC Markets.
Rolls-Royce continued to fall in early morning trade, falling 3.01 per cent to 520.25p per share as the markets opened. The company was the yesterday's biggest FTSE 100 casualty, tumbling 19.57 per cent to 536.5p after warning profits will be at the lower end of expectations due to "sharply weaker demand".
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Meanwhile, BAE systems opened 1.1 per cent down at 449.8p per share, after it announced 371 job cuts in the UK yesterday. Sources told Reuters it was in talks to sell its US manpower and services businesses to a private equity firm for more than $1bn (£0.65bn).
Sainsbury's opened slightly down at 0.5 per cent down to 241.9p per share two days after it reported a near 18 per cent fall in profits.
"Cost inflation, selling deflation, and gross margins under pressure suggest on-going, structural profit declines," HSBC analysts wrote in a note yesterday.
And shares in 3i were also down after the British private equity firm reported solid half-year results despite challenging market conditions forcing it to cut back on spending. 3i's share price opened one per cent down at 473p per share.
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Yesterday miners weighed on the FTSE 100, with mining companies showing falls of between three per cent and nine per cent. Glencore shares continued to fall: today they were 2.04 per cent down at 93.98p per share.
BHP Billiton rose 1.05 per cent to 886.6p per share, while Anglo American shares rose 0.27 per cent to 451p per share, and Rio Tinto fell rose by 0.25 per cent to 2,244.75p per share.
Shares in Vodafone were also 0.63 per cent up to 223.03 after this week it announced it will invest $2bn in India and earlier this week demonstrated it was well on track to smash sales expectations.